Reliant
The Reliant is one of those mysterious aircraft which occurs in the Worrals stories.What exactly is it? It seems to have been custom-made by to allow the Worrals/Frecks partnership to go on missions together. What its real life analogy or inspiration is difficult to determine. A "Reliant" also occurs in the short story Oriental Interlude, where it is described as a two seat aircraft used by a communications squadron. This might well be the same aircraft type. Description of the Reliant *Single engine monoplane. Worrals considers it a fighter. Worrals says if she could take up a Reliant some time she would consider her career going somwhere. (Worrals of the W.A.A.F. Chapter 1). *It seemed to be part of the equipment of a home defence squadron. McNavish needed it ferried to an advance landing ground (W.A.A.F. Chapter 1). *Has two seats and dual controls - while learning to fly it, Worrals made Bill Ashton hold his hands up so she could see he wasn't handling the controls. (W.A.A.F. Chapter 1). *Has multiple forward firing guns. The front pilot has a gunsight (W.A.A.F. Chapter 1). *Has a Merlin engine. (Worrals Carries On Chapter Six) *Worrals thinks of the rear cockpit as "the gunner's seat" (Carries On Chapter Six). Note this may contradict the earlier point about dual controls. Possible candidates Boulton Paul Defiant At first glance, the Reliant might be a play on words for the Boulton Paul Defiant. In the 1952 Hachette French translation of Worrals of the W.A.A.F., the illustrator, Christian Mathelot went for this straight-forward presumption and drew Worrals stepping off a Defiant with Frecks in the turret. However there are problems with this. The Defiant did not have dual controls. The turret can swing forward and transfer firing control to the pilot but the guns could not depress to fire through the propellor arc, nor did the pilot have a gunsight. In the text, Worrals clearly did fire straight ahead of her and aimed through a gunsight. Nowhere in the Johns text is it mentioned that the person in the back seat has control of the guns or is in a turret. For example, Worrals might have told Frecks to standby with her guns but never did so. In Oriental Interlude, the narrator, an unnamed R.A.F. Group Captain mentioned that he climbed up into the rear cockpit of the Reliant, and not the turret. The dustjacket of the 1st ed. Worrals Carries On shows what one illustrator thought the Reliant to be: a Defiant (note he has drawn the distinctive Defiant tail accurately) with the rear turret removed and a regular canopy fitted over. Miles Master Another possibility might have been the Miles Master two seat advance trainer. But this had only one gun, not multiple guns. It also did not have a Merlin engine. And why would McNavish need a training aircraft ferried to an advance landing ground? Perhaps, as is plausible, as a communications aircraft to ferry spare pilots. In the second instalment of the Girl's Own Paper, the illustrator drew a Hurricane-like fighter with tandem seating inside a long greenhouse canopy, like in a Fairey Fulmar or Battle. Such an aircraft is also depicted in the internal illustrations of the 1st ed. Worrals Carries On, which is drawn differently from the Defiant-like plane on the dust-jacket. What the role of such an aircraft would be in a home defence fighter squadron must be left to conjecture. References External Links *wikipedia: Boulton Paul Defiant *wikipedia: Miles Master Category:Aircraft Category:Aircraft (canonical works) Category:Fictional aircraft Category:Aircraft which Worrals flew (canon)